Red State Rebels

Celebrate Drinking Liberally's 50th Meetup and Debate Watching Party!

Hard to believe, isn't it?  Drinking Liberally isn't technically old enough to drink (we're just over 4 years old), and we're about to meet for the 50th time.  To celebrate, we have a host of exciting news and events you can't live winout: 

1. Announcing the Drinking Liberally SLOGAN CONTEST!  Listen, people, we need your help.  Every great organization has its byline, and Drinking Liberally is no different.  But what should our byline be?  Samples: Hash House Harriers, a Drinking Club With a Running Problem; The GOP, Helping the Rich Get Richer Since 1854.  Email your suggestions to [email protected].  We'll vote on the top three at our gathering on Wednesday, and the winner will get a FABULOUS PRIZE!
2. You can now eat liberally, too!  We've moved the City Grill, 199 8th Street, in downtown Boise.
3. Watch the last presidential debate with us!
4. Come early (6 PM) and stay late (?) for a rousing good partay with your fellow Red State Rebels and Liberal Drinkers.

Again, sign up for alerts here.  Cheers!

Can't get enough of that good, good debating stuff?

Drinking Liberally can't get enough of the political fun either!  Want to feel like a majority?  Join us to watch the second presidential debate TONIGHT at 6:30 at the City Grill (199 8th Street) in downtown Boise. 

If you're not on Drinking Liberally's email list, well, you should be.  Get busy.  Sign up here for laughs, meetup reminders, and the occasional reference to Idaho politics, campains, or ukuleles: drinkingliberally.org.

VP debate and emails

Couple of thoughts today - first of course is the VP debate tonight. I know I will be watching from my living room, and I am wondering will Palin be able to answer anything. I mean a real answer and not a talking in circles with a smile and a shrug and tangents. She does claim, that she can look us all in the eye, and say she has the experience to be one old heart beat away from leading the country.

I disagree.

Also something seems to have been coming up more and more, at least with the folks I know - those email forwards. You know the ones, some "facts" that tell you why to not vote for someone, why they are getting their cash from someone bad etc.

I am one of those people that takes a firm stand on not sending or allowing people to send me forwards. I find then time wasters, and often not even true - many not even a small sliver of truth. I am also confident that you will not be struck dead if you break the chain...

That said, an email does come now and again, and it seems often they also come with poor email etiquette. With the addresses of many people showing. In the last week I received two, I hit reply all, point out this is NOT TRUE, and here is a link you should keep handy (snopes.com) and here is a direct link to why your facts are not true. Then I add something like honesty is important, especially when it comes to elections, and the value of every vote.

Now a couple of things tend to happen. One the person stops adding my name to the list of group emails, but very often I will get a direct email back from one of the people on the Reply All - that says:

thank you! these things make me crazy, I appreciate what you did.

Wow thank you for taking the time, to let me know the facts.

or thanks, that was a great reply, mind if I borrow that idea next time I get one of these?

Notice the thank you in each? People want the facts, and very often they know the forwards are not fully true, but they are not sure if they are somewhat true. There are so many ways to make sure that people
have the facts before they vote, and not all of them are debates, or yard signs, or walk and talks.

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Otter orders holdbacks; Obama would help states

Talk about trickle-down economics: The national financial crisis hit home in Idaho today as Gov. Butch Otter ordered statewide budget hold backs and cautioned all state agencies to reserve another 1.5 percent of their budget for possible further cuts. Jill has more at New West .

Meanwhile, a McClatchy Newspapers article in the Idaho Statesman today noted how Barack Obama wants to provide $25 billion in relief to state and local governments to be used on whatever the states and municipalities need most, along with another $25 billion for public works projects like roads and bridges. Whatever Idaho's share, it would go a long way toward relieving our current budget gaps and infrastructure needs, wouldn't it?

John McCain calls it a gimmick, and of course he of all people should know a gimmick when he sees one. But maybe Otter and his fellow Republicans ought to consider whether voting GOP is the best move this fall, or whether it's time to give Democrats a chance to put the country together again.

McCain tries to weasel out of debate

In one of the most startling developments of the 2008 presidential campaign, John McCain this afternoon said he wants the first presidential debate delayed so Congress can hunker down and finish the bailout bill before the markets open next Monday.

This interesting news comes on the heels of the latest ABC-Washington Post poll showing that McCain - who admits the economy is a mystery to him - now trails Barack Obama by 9 percent overall and by double-digit margins on the economy. (Independents now give Obama a whopping 21-point lead when asked which candidate is best equipped to deal with the economy.

The financial crisis was more than a decade in the making. We all need to wonder: What's the rush? And also: What does this say about John McCain's ability to handle multiple demands on his energy?

Update: The Obama campaign says the debate is still on. Rahm Emanuel, Obama's chief debate negotiator, told MSNBC that "we can handle both."

Update, Thursday morning: It became clear yesterday that Barack Obama, not John McCain, was the one who first suggested some sort of joint statement on the economy. From the Los Angeles Times: "The day's head-spinning events began about 8:30 a.m. on the East Coast, when Obama, who was campaigning in Florida, called McCain in New York to suggest that the two rivals reach agreement on a joint statement of principles for any Wall Street bailout." (More here.)

Meanwhile, the two candidates will go to the White House later today and meet with President Bush and Congressional leaders. As of 9 a.m. MST, Congress is reportedly nearing a deal that would include more protections for taxpayers than originally proposed in the Bush-Paulson plan. McCain is still maintaining today that he'll skip Friday's debate if a deal hasn't been hammered out.

Fancy a weekend in Vegas ... or Bozeman?

The Obama-Biden campaign is asking Idaho supporters to consider taking a trip to Nevada or Montana over the next few weeks to help reach voters in those important swing states. Nevada in particular looks ready to tip Obama's way. As The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza wrote on The Fix today:

The Nevada caucuses way back in January gave Democrats a huge jump on voter registration and voter identification efforts. (The Republican side was barely contested with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney winning easily.) At the end of August, there were 458,877 registered Democrats in the state as compared to 397,172 registered Republicans. Compare that to November 2004 when there were 442,122 registered Republicans and 438,906 registered Democrats and you see that the trend line is moving in the wrong direction for the GOP.

Now it's a matter of registering even more people - then getting out the vote. So be like these people, and If you can spare some time to travel to one of our neighboring states, fill out this form. And if you can't travel between now and Election Day, never fear: there's plenty you can do here in Idaho by pitching in with the Obama campaign, the state party, your county Democratic office, or the campaign of your choice.

Idaho mobilizes for Obama visit to Elko

Update 9/22/08: Here are some photos sent in by the Twin Falls crew from their trip to Elko last week.

A group of 17 of us from Twin Falls, and eight others from Minidoka and Sun Valley volunteered at Obama’s rally in Elko, Nevada, on September 17. We carpooled to Elko on Tuesday night, then were at the  the city park by 8 a.m. Obama had incorporated his economic plans into this speech, and my favorite line as quoted by Slate “questioned whether McCain could make good on his challenge to take on the "old boys' network." With so many former lobbyists in his campaign, said Obama, "the old boys' network is what they call a staff meeting.”

Here’s the good news about Twin Falls County Democrats: I had an email from Kassie Cerami (Idaho Obama organizer) on Sunday saying Idaho had been asked for twenty volunteers. I didn’t understand until Monday at noon that all twenty were being asked for from Twin Falls. We managed to find 25 volunteers by the time we left Tuesday night. I especially want to thank the LaRocco campaign for letting us take Matt Kopydlowski and all of you who rearranged your life to take part in the Obama campaign.

The campaign's best ad yet

It's two minutes long - unusual for an advertisement of any sort. But in it, Barack Obama spells out a coherent, concrete, and can-do vision of how we can get America back on track, and asks people to read more specifics at his website. Good stuff. Read the script in the comments.

McCain invented ... the Blackberry?

Remember eight years ago, when we let Republicans get away with saying that Al Gore claimed to personally invent the Internet? Well, John McCain is now claiming that he paved the way for cell phones, wi-fi, even the Blackberry! Who knew?

Read this diary at Daily Kos, which explains how McCain (unlike Gore) has actually stood in the way of many technological advances we now use daily. A snip:

Of pending legislation, McCain is not a sponsor of the "Connect the Nation Act" – though Senator Obama is. McCain is not a sponsor of Senator Rockefeller's call for a universal next generation broadband by 2015 – though Senator Obama is. And of course, McCain isn't a sponsor of the "Internet Freedom Act" that would ensure net neutrality – though Senator Obama is. ...

So,  McCain's "guiding hand" seems to consist of opposing the legislation that laid the groundwork for the communications we have today, and authoring failed legislation designed to benefit big carriers. Of course, we should probably be glad that John McCain really didn't invent the cell phone or wifi, otherwise we'd all be getting our wireless services from one monolithic company free to restrict our access to only the pages that pay for the privilege. And we'd all be using "Jitterbugs."

We have a lot of swing voters here in Idaho who are (still) employed in the tech and telecommunications industries. They need to read this and show it to their colleagues, too. John McCain is so thoroughly 20th century, it hurts to think about it.

It's the economy, period

If the economy wasn't the top issue for voters before today, it certainly will be now. Which candidate is best prepared and most able to shepherd our shaky economy through its deepening crises? It's a no-brainer.

John McCain and his wife are unspeakably wealthy through his wife's involvement in a beer distributing empire. He doesn't know how many houses he owns.

He insists that the economy is fundamentally strong. (Watch him dodder through this statement today, even as Wall Street giants collapse and the stock market reels.) He said earlier this year that he really doesn't understand the economy. He supports Bush economic and tax policy that favors the wealthiest Americans while offering little to the middle class. His key economic adviser says Americans are "whiners" and that the recession is all in our heads.

Barack Obama is a product of the middle class who only recently became well-off due to book sales. He understands what middle-class families are going through. He and his wife Michelle own one home.

Obama's economic policy is based on tax cuts for the middle class and creation of top-notch new jobs for the 21st century. He would  end tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans and to corporations that ship jobs overseas, and he would bring more oversight to the financial and housing markets. Watch Barack Obama and Joe Biden talk about the economy and what working families really care about.

As Obama spokesman Bill Burton said this morning, "Today of all days, John McCain's stubborn insistence that the 'fundamentals of the economy are strong' shows that he is disturbingly out of touch with what's going in the lives of ordinary Americans. Even as his own ads try to convince him that the economy is in crisis, apparently his 26 years in Washington have left him incapable of understanding that the policies he supports have created an historic economic crisis."

Update 9/16/08: Obama released this ad today:

Update, Wednesday afternoon: Check out the fastest flip-flop in U.S. political history. The economy is strong. No, wait, it's not! Nice straight talk there, senator. And now McCain adviser Carly Fiorina is telling the media that neither McCain nor Sarah Palin nor Barack Obama nor Joe Biden could run a major corporation. But actually, after 19 months of watching Obama build a powerhouse organization, I'm dead  certain he could run HP, or anything else.

For a recap of how the economy is now dominating the presidential campaign, check out this AP story, which leads with this statement: "Economic fears are suddenly dominating the presidential campaign, shoving aside lipstick on pigs and every other issue." And not a moment too soon ...